A Poem for teachers too, perhaps?
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins
I had to laugh when I read this poem. We sometimes do this to our students when we teach poetry, don't we? I remember trying to help my students make sense of Ozymandias, as they learned to annotate poems. Oh, my!
Ultimately, it's more fun for us and better for our students if we can "waterski across the surface of the poem" observing the details here and there, rather than beating it to death. Our students might be more willing to move beyond Shel Silverstein if we do.
Poems that make you smile
Here's the poem, Oranges, by Gary Soto.
The first time I walked
With a girl,
I was twelve,
Cold, and weighted down
With two oranges in my jacket.
December.
Frost cracking
Beneath my steps, my breath
Before me, then gone,
As I walked toward
Her house, the one whose
Porch light burned yellow
Night and day, in any weather.
A dog barked at me, until
She came out pulling
At her gloves, face bright
With rouge. I smiled,
Touched her shoulder, and led
Her down the street, across
A used car lot and a line
Of newly planted trees,
Until we were breathing
Before a drugstore.
We Entered, the tiny bell
Bringing a saleslady
Down a narrow aisle of goods.
I turned to the candies
Tiered like bleachers,
And asked what she wanted -
Light in her eyes, a smile
Starting at the corners
Of her mouth. I fingered
A nickel in my pocket,
And when she lifted a chocolate
That cost a dime,
I didn't say anything.
I took the nickel from
My pocket, then an orange,
And set them quietly on
The counter.
When I looked up,
The lady's eyes met mine,
And held them, knowing
Very well what it was all
About.
Outside, A few cars hissing past,
Fog hanging like old
Coats between the trees.
I took my girl's hand
In mine for two blocks,
Then released it to let
Her unwrap the chocolate.
I peeled my orange
That was so bright against
The gray of December
That, from some distance,
Someone might have thought
I was making a fire in my hands.
Poem lyrics that challenge
This poem takes a little bit of work to understand because of the language. There is no Frigate Like a Ship was written by Emily Dickinson in 1873. But it's worth digging into! Give students the meanings of the four unknown words and let them see what they come up with.
This might be a good poem for partners or small groups to read together. It might be fun to have them draw what they see when they understand what Dickinson was saying!
- frigate=ship
- coursers=hunters
- traverse=roaming, walking
- oppress=suffering.
There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!
Other Poems that move 6th graders
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
I, Too by Langston Hughes
The Wind by Robert Louis Stevenson (good for teaching point of view)
Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
Lend a Hand by Anonymous
The World's Fastest Bicycle by Kenn Nesbitt
Mother to Son by Langston Hughes (this one ended up on our state test some years ago)
Stormy Sunday by Sharon Waller Knutson (good for alliteration)
Here's a fun exercise for your students. Have them tell about their lives by writing - or using lyrics from poems or songs - to explain their setting, themselves as a character, and their rising action
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